Express delete story claiming ‘half of British Muslims support ISIS’

The Daily Express appear to have deleted a story suggesting that 1.5 million British Muslims support terror group Islamic State — based on polling which apparently did not ask respondents their religion or state clearly that ISIS was a terror group.

The headline for the online version was …

“Half of British Muslims ‘support ISIS’ as fears grow over influence of terror group”

… with the strapline:

“HALF of Britain’s three million Muslims could support the Islamic State terror group, a shocking new survey has revealed.”

While Scrapbook cannot locate the new polling, the 2014 ICM surveyon behalf of Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya only asked a single question about ISIS — which used a formulation recently condemned precisely because it conflates the beheading enthusiasts with a legitimate nation state:

“From what you know, please, tell me if you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant otherwise known as ISIS?

Although it’s understandable to assume that supporters of ISIS are likely to be Muslim (which is compatible with also assuming only a small minority support it) it is interesting that the geographical breakdown doesn’t seem weighted towards London, the Midlands and the North particularly, which is what one might expect if there was a strong correlation between claiming to support ISIS and being Muslim.

Rob jamiesonsays:

I’d place the quality of the DE’s journalism in this case above that of TPS. The polling was on behalf of the Daily Mirror. Additionally, why should they use in a survey some obscure formulation (Daesh) when ISIS is very clear to all British respondents? It’s an insurgent terrorist group. No one believe it’s a legitimate state, it’s a claim to statehood (or Ummah) which doesn’t exist in international law OR in European people’s imaginations.

Finally, 9% of respondents suggested that they had a positive or very positive attitude to IS. As to the claim 50% of Muslims *could* support ISIS, this would seem to be an underestimate, making the DE’s analysis weak in the opposite direction. Muslims are around 5-6% of the population, so it seems a perfectly agreeable assumption that a significant majority of Muslims agree with this figure and a not inconsequential number of other ethnic minorities also have some fondness for them. It’d take a statistician to tease out the numbers (subtracting the under 18s and extrapolating from the basics to surmise what the actual figures are), but I’d suggest that the DE pulled it, not through worries regarding data but worries regarding public anger on a day when we were remembering 7/7, no doubt prompted by calls from the Met and possibly the NUJ.

Dykewardsays:

Davidsays:

Steve Hodgsonsays:

I saw the article in a printed copy and had a look. The maths were imaginative, to say the least. It was something like: 1. 6% of people responded “Yes” to the question. 2. 12% of the population are Muslim. 3. Therefore, all the people who said “Yes” must be Muslim (this was inferred) 4. Therefore, half of Muslims ‘support ISIS’

Of course, there may well be non-Muslims that said they support ISIS, either because they do (and are allowed to, it’s a free world) or they were taking the Mick.

The whole article was based on a badly-worded question and some very suspect maths, I reckon that’s why it was pulled.

angela dickinsonsays:

YAHOO homepage still has the headline flashed up on its homepage. I tried to find someone to alert as to the dubious nature of the link, but YAHOO seems to have no editorial or content department that can be contacted/

earstwhilesays:

To all you naysayers, you are idiots. Support for isis is huge in this country and around the world. There is plenty of evidence for that. I suggest you do your research before making ignorant comments.